Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Advent Reflections
Diocese of Newark


Thank you for joining us as we begin the journey of Advent.  Each day you will receive a scripture reading, a reflection on that reading and a short prayer (except on Sundays when you will receive the Gospel lesson and a prayer).  The word "Advent" means "coming". It is a time to slow down, be quiet and meditate about the real meaning of Christmas.

  

These meditations and prayers have been prepared by a team of diverse members of our Diocese.  Joan Chittister, says: "The function of Advent is to remind us what we're waiting for as we go through life too busy with things that do not matter to remember the things that do. Advent asks the question, what is it for which you are spending your life?"

  

We all desperately crave more meaningful, less cluttered, lives, yet we rarely take the time to slow down and ask this question. The hope is that these reflections each day during the four weeks before Christmas will help us to prepare our hearts and our lives as we wait for the coming of Jesus. 

May this Advent be a time of hope, anticipation and a deepening of our relationship with God. Please feel free to share.


Diocese of Newark
                                                          Scripture

  "Live lives worthy of the God who is calling you into his own kingdom and glory."

1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

 

Reflection
 

I don't understand the Trinity.  I figure it's a good policy not to even try.  Whenever I do, I imagine the Irish Twins from St. Patrick's Bad Analogies chiding me: "That's modalism, Patrick!"  (If you don't know St. Patrick's Bad Analogies, do yourself a favor and head to YouTube pronto.)

 

But one of my favorite images for the mystery of God is that God is like a dance.  The three Persons of the Trinity are in relationship one with another, inter-penetrating, filling into one another, like a giant, divine jig.

 

And I'm invited to cut in.  Having been baptized into Christ, having been made a partaker in the Divine Nature, having been called into God's own glory, the DJ plays my favorite song and I'm allowed to get down and boogie with the Divine.

 

 
Prayer
 

I'd better practice some smooth moves, like justice, peace, and mercy, kindness, patience, and love.  Or as St. Paul would say, live my life worthy of being called into God's own glory.  Amen.
 

You are invited to explore these resources: